Middlesex grandmother Hilary Perry has recently returned from Canada, where she met a hundred relatives she never knew existed after the JC helped put them in touch.

Five years ago, Mrs Perry, now 63, was contacted by her US-based cousin Lee Feldscher - not known to her at the time. He was tracing his family tree. He knew he had a relative in the UK, and so placed an advert in the JC. The two subsequently made contact. Last month, she met 100 additional cousins from four continents at a family reunion in Toronto.

Mrs Perry, nee Shapiro, tells People: "Within one day I had a whole new family. The family tree now has around 1,000 names on it.

"The reunion was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was very emotional. All my father's family got killed in the Blitz, so I don't have a big family. To find a family with more than 1,000 people is amazing. We all stayed in the same hotel in Toronto, had Friday-night dinner together and remembered all those who had not survived."

Ms Perry attended the reunion with her husband Albert Perry, son Gerry Rosen, daughter Samantha Jacobs and grandson Jordan Jacobs. She lives in Edgware, Middlesex, and is a member of Edgware United Synagogue. Her next task: to find one last relative she knows of.